Third Time's a Charm
by DayDreamer015
Summary: A depressed 16 year old girl is struggling with the recent death of her mother. Her father sees her as invisible, her best friend is becoming distant, and the crushing loneliness is only getting worse. Unsure of how to live her life, she struggles through each day until she gets an unwanted visitor when the Ghost with the Most decides to take her life in his own hands.


_By the time you read this, I will be gone. I can't bare to feel so invisible any longer. The pain in my heart grows worse every day as it bleeds out into nothingness. I scream and call out for help, but no one can hear me. I'm falling into an abyss and I cannot-_

The young girl shook her head, scribbling the words out furiously before crumbling the paper up and tossing it over her shoulder. It bounced against the rim of the trashcan and landed softly among a small pile of other discarded attempts. Sighing softly, she rubbed her temples and rested her head against the cool wood of the desk. In hindsight, writing a suicide note shouldn't have been as difficult as she had been finding it to be. If she had been planning on being dead, what was there that she really had to be worried about? She lifted her head, sparing a glance to the wastebasket while taping her finger pensively. As she did so, with each tick of the clock, the walls began to feel as if they were closing in on her, causing her breathing to become harsh and shallow. Her hearing was rapidly clogged with the sound of her own heart pumping blood through her ears. Shutting her eyes tightly, she began to count back from ten in a way to calm her nerves as her fingernails scratched desperately at the desk for some form of comfort.

_10...9...8...7...6...-_

The sudden outburst ringing from her phone caused her body to jump and open her eyes as she began to frantically search for where she had last put it. Wiping the tears from her eyes hastily, she glanced at the caller ID and answered with a clearing of her throat, forcing herself to sound somewhat normal.

"Hey, Becca."

"Ugh, finally! I called you like five times, and you know I don't get many free moments!" She pulled the phone away for a moment to glance at the screen for confirmation. Seeing that had been the case, she winced and pushed the chair away from the desk, letting it roll for a moment before answering.

"Sorry, I've just-" Once more she found herself looking over her shoulder.

"-had a lot on my mind." She managed to finish, swallowing the lump in her throat. Rebecca had always been worried about her since the 6th grade, and when the depression started it had gotten more stressful and complicated for the both of them. Her episodes hadn't been a common occurrence, but every now and again they would creep up and consume her almost entirely. The guilt afterwards would always eat her alive, mostly because she knew damn well that Rebecca would be heartbroken if she left her alone. Still, she knew that she had other friends, ones that would comfort her and eventually help her move on. She had a loving boyfriend, Brady, who she had been with for almost 2 years. As the days grew, Rebecca and her had began to see less and less of each other. Their Junior year of high school had rapidly been coming to a close and soon Senior year would follow. They would both be off to college, assuming that she even had the will to get in, and she knew at the time she would truly lose her best friend. This only made the inevitable sinking feeling of loneliness almost drown her completely. She heaved a sigh. Regardless of her inner battle, she knew that Rebecca was the reason that she never went through with it. Every time. But what was to happen when that reason had no longer become a reason?

"Dahlia?" She flinched at the sound of her name and snapped back into reality.

"I'm here, I'm here." She reassured, finally standing up from her desk as she began to pace lightly.

"So, is that a yes?" She blinked. Uh oh, had she missed a question?

"Um...what?" On the other end of the phone, Rebecca sighed softly.

"Not _all_ here then, huh? I said: that Halloween is only a few weeks away, and I know we don't have costumes yet. Do you want to go get some? I really think you could use some time out of the house." Chewing on her bottom lip as she observed her dark and depressing room, she couldn't help but agree. The more time she spent trapped alone, the more it twisted her aching heart. Halloween had been always been her favorite time of the year, despite how it had been unable to cheer her up lately. However, drowning herself in the distraction, along with spending some time with her best friend, wouldn't have been the worst thing for her.

"Yeah, I think that sounds good."

"Perfect! Meet up in 15 minutes and we'll head there together?" She checked her watch, brushing her sweeping bangs out of her view and away from her eyes.

"Okay, I'll see you in a few."

It hadn't taken Dahlia long to gather her things, throw on her oversized black hoodie with her combat boots, and grab her tiny black backpack before heading out. Within a few minutes she had met up with Rebecca and the two began to make their way to the costume store.

The gentle fall breeze felt oddly comforting and inviting as the two walked together along the sidewalk, occasionally engaging in idle chitchat. Everything seemed quiet, which had been unusual considering the usual bustle of honking horns and shouting people. Rebecca glanced up from her phone to observe the area, noticing the abundance of silence.

"Where is everyone?" Sparing a glace to Dahlia for an answer, who only shrugged before jamming her hands in the pockets of her hoodie.

"I can't say I mind, I like it when it's quiet like this." Despite always feeling lonely in the silence, there would be a rare occurrence where she would actually enjoy it. It gave her a chance to clear her thoughts and relax, at least for a few moments before her nerves and inner demons would creep up on her.

"So..." She spoke to break it however, knowing that her best friend hadn't been as familiar with it.

"How are you and Brady?" Even at the mere mention of his name, she noticed the smile on her lips and the light blush that painted her cheeks.

"We're good, you should have dinner with us sometime." Rebecca and Brady had met when she had been a freshman, he had been a year ahead of her. It didn't take long after they had for them to start dating, only a month or two. She couldn't blame him, with Rebecca's stunning good looks and charming personality, it wasn't difficult for guys to want to throw themselves at her. Brady was a good guy at heart, and it was obvious he was in it for the long run. He wasn't always the brightest but he made up for it in compassion. Despite this, Dahlia didn't know him that well, so the thought of hanging around him made her just the slightest bit uncomfortable. They had plans after graduation together, of course. With Brady on the final stretch of his senior year, he had already been accepted into an out of state college to play football, Rebecca would follow a year after. Together, they would buy a house, live happily, maybe even eventually start a family.

"Is that a no on the dinner then?" Rebecca chimed in after the lack of response. Dahlia blinked and looked over at her while rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Sorry..." She trailed off, yet still refusing to answer the question. Rebecca, taking the hint, only nodded a bit and adjusted her purse over her shoulder.

"It's fine. I'm not offended, and neither is he. You don't have to do something you don't want to." She nodded, looking back down at her feet as they continued to walk. Her thoughts continued to trail back to the question of what it was she was going to do when Rebecca finally left her to fend for herself.

"I know things are tough, and you're in a weird place, but he does want to get to know you more though, I talk about you all the time." She waited a moment for Dahlia to respond, curious to see what she had to say. When she didn't however, she glanced over to see why, noticing that she seemed only focused now on what they had been walking past. Following her gaze, her heart sunk when she saw what her best friend had longingly been staring at. A graveyard. The graveyard her mother had been buried in four months earlier. It was clear that Dahlia hadn't been the same since she had passed, and she could barely stand seeing the hurt in her eyes and the solemn look of aimlessness shadowed on her face. Rebecca stopped in her tracks, grabbing Dahlia's arm gently, which caused her to stop and look.

"We can go see her, if you want." Her heart clenched as she saw that same look cross her face before she swallowed the dry lump in her throat and nodded. Together, the two pushed through the iron gates and down the cobblestoned path, past the rows and rows of headstones of people long past gone. Nervously, Dahlia began to clench and unclench her fists as her breathing became shallow, matching the pounding in her chest. After what felt like a lifetime of walking, they came to a stop in front of a freshly polished marble stone. Dahlia, for a moment, found herself unable to look up at it. It was only when Rebecca grabbed her hand gently that her gaze finally shifted, the pain in her heart swelling. Her face was expressionless as she read the words over and over again.

_Carla Lyn Johnson_

_1972-2019_

_Beloved wife and mother_

She took in a sharp breath. She couldn't find her words the day of the funeral and at that moment, being in front of her grave, she felt no different. There was nothing that could have been said for a woman like her mother. She always saw life as a game, never letting the little things annoy her, and anyone could be a friend. Then she had gotten sick.

_It's nothing to worry about. _

That's what the doctors had said. Then it almost seemed like in a blink of an eye they had given her months, which dwindled down to weeks. Seeing the light fade from the brightest woman Dahlia ever knew tore her heart in two, and now life had been the game she didn't want to play anymore. 16 years was not long enough to spend with her and she found herself willing to give up everything for just one more day, if only just to tell her mother how much she meant. At times, she felt as if she could still feel the sensation of her mother holding her hand as it slowly grew cold.

_No more warmth._

Her father had a different way of coping. If he had even been upset, he never showed it. Most of the time he had been distracted and buried in his work, being the captain of his own police precinct made it easy. After the funeral, he hadn't taken any time off, despite how much she needed him in their time of mourning. Had it been so greedy of her to just want to be seen? He was like a brick wall, and to him, she had been invisible.

When she finally managed to pull herself out of her dark thoughts and look up, she noticed Rebecca had taken a few steps back to give her space. She glanced over at her and shined a slightly reassuring smile to let her know that, for the moment, she would be okay.

"The store closes soon, we should get going." She finally suggested as she hiked a thumb over her shoulder. The blonde looked surprised for a moment, hardly being able to believe how easily it seemed that she had forced her sadness back inside and acted like it hadn't even existed.

"Y- yeah, I guess you're right." She turned to walk off with Rebecca following closely behind, the dark haired girl looked back to glance at the tombstone one last time, yet before she could say any form of a goodbye, she had tripped on another stone and fell back, landing on the ground with a grunt. Rebecca gasped, making sure she had been alright before trying to repress a giggle. Dahlia, seeing her expression, glared up playfully as a ghost of a smirk hovered on her own lips.

"Ha ha." She stated dryly as Rebecca let loose her laugh and offered a hand to help her up.

"You know, you really should apologize to Mister-" Rebecca paused as she looked to the gravestone she had tripped over, pulling a disgruntled face as she read it over.

"Betel...geuse?" Dahlia glanced up from dusting off her pants to shoot her a look as if she had spontaneously started speaking a different language.

"What?" In response and to defend herself, the blonde gestured to the stone, causing her to walk around and spare a glance at it herself.

"Betelgeuse." She repeated, Dahlia stared for a moment, reading it over in her head before crossing her arms.

"Damn...his mom must have _hated _him to give him a name like that." Rebecca roughly nudged her, causing her to smirk and shrug innocently.

"Come on, lets go." Even after Rebecca had walked off, Dahlia stood for another moment, observing the carved stone. No years, no kind words, just a name and an arrow pointing down beneath the ground. It was hard to tell if the gravestone had been new or old. The cracks suggested old, yet the sturdiness of it had suggested it had just been placed. She blinked, almost swearing to herself that she saw the dirt patch shift ever so slightly. Figuring it was simply her mind playing tricks on her, she shook it away from her thoughts, not wanting to think about it any further before she finally trailed behind Rebecca.

The costume shop had been a ghost town, so to speak. Fearing they wouldn't have much luck, the two began to rummage through the limited options that were left from the ravagers who had done their shopping earlier.

"Two weeks before Halloween and there's hardly anything left..." Dahlia mumbled under her breath, cursing and kicking herself at the fact she hadn't been on top of the whole holiday like she had been in the past years.

"Okay! I think I found one!" She looked up from the rack of clothes and turned to the curtain as it opened and Rebecca stepped out to show off what she had found.

"What...is that?"

"I'm a mouse!" She declared triumphantly as she spun around, the costume had been anything but conservative, covering almost nothing and was accompanied by a pair of cheap ears and a tail barely attached to the skirt.

"...have you been watching Mean Girls again?" Was all she could ask in retort, causing her friend to scoff and stutter in defense.

"Th- there was a marathon on, I- come on, it's a cute costume!"

"Is that what we're calling it?" She replied jokingly bitter, which caused Rebecca to heave an exasperated sigh and slump her shoulders in defeat, pulling the ears roughly from her blonde hair.

"I'm out of options then. There isn't anything good anymore." Dahlia matched her sigh of defeat, adjusting her backpack over her shoulders, before turning back to the rack she had previously been looking at it in a desperate attempt to see if there was something she had overlooked.

"There has to be something." She mused, feeling Rebecca watching her for a moment before disappearing back into the dressing room. She idly flipped through the clothes, carefully inspecting each one to see if there was anything she possibly could have altered into something suitable.

"You know, you dress like it's Halloween every day, can't you do something with that?" She heard her friend call, and despite knowing she was joking, she still scoffed sharply.

"Oh hardy fricken har." She spat, hearing the giggle from behind the velvet, this caused the dark haired girl to adjust her oversized black hoodie in rebellion. Before she could think any more on the subject her eyes caught a costume she hadn't noticed before. Musing to herself inaudibly, she pulled it out to scan it curiously. Rebecca, having finished changing, held the mouse costume in her arms and made her way back over to Dahlia, peering over her shoulder curiously.

"What's that supposed to be?" Dahlia shrugged, holding it out a bit so they could both observe it better.

"I actually don't know." It was a formal business like suit, an odd combination of a mobster and a prisoner, dawned with wide black and white stripes running down the length of it with a black tie dangling on top of it all. Dahlia glanced behind her to lock gazes with Rebecca, silently searching for approval. The blonde's eyes raked over the costume for a moment, her hazel eyes twitching in thought briefly before finally shrugging.

"I think you could make it work." She turned back to the clothing she held in her hands, contemplation swarming over in her mind.

"Okay." She declared, turning on her heels to face Rebecca fully, who hadn't set down the mouse costume. There was silence between them as Rebecca could easily read the look of judgment on Dahlia's features. Finally, she spoke to break it, nudging her.

"Fuck you, I like Mean Girls."

The sun had just began to sink behind the horizon by the time Dahlia had been heading up the front steps of her house. Curiously, she glanced at the unfamiliar bright pink beetle that had been parked crookedly in the driveway.

"What the hell?" She questioned under her breath as she pushed through the front door, immediately noticing that all the lights had been turned off. Cautiously, she made her way up the stairs, feeling the walls until eventually she reached the top and was able to click on the lights. Immediately, she looked away at the sight of her father laying on the couch with a very perky looking woman straddling him excitedly. Thankfully they had both still been clothed, but Dahlia knew the image would still be engrained in her mind and very troublesome to remove. At the sudden intrusion of light, the two alertly looked over at the cause.

"Jesus, dad." She groaned bitterly under her breath, refusing to look in the general direction. Her father, Rhett, sighed as a way to cover his embarrassment and ran a hand through his disheveled hair while clearing his throat as if nothing out of the ordinary had been going on.

"Dahlia, I didn't expect you home." Had been his excuse, she scoffed lightly and couldn't help but shoot a cold look at him, watching as the woman had finally gotten off of him and adjusted herself somewhat proudly, flipping her brunette hair over her shoulder before shining a smile.

"Hi there! I'm Melissa. You must be Daria."

"Dahlia." She replied flatly, holding her tongue before she ended up saying something she would regret. Rhett sat up pensively, looking between them both, focusing more on the anger that had been radiating from his daughter as she stood silently. He could see her eyes traveling up and down her in silent judgement, she was much younger than she probably should have been, perhaps in her late twenties, but all the plastic surgery seemed as if she was desperately attempting to hide that fact.

"...don't we have third period history together?" She finally snapped in question, causing Rhett to immediately become tense.

"Dahlia!" She rolled her eyes, not saying another word as she stormed past to her room and slammed the door behind her. The couple sat silently on the couch in contemplation, Rhett had been rubbing his temples harshly as Melissa watched in the general direction to where Dahlia had walked off to, before finally looking back at him, flipping her hair once more.

"That's a compliment."

Dahlia felt the pure rage course through her, crimson red consuming her vision as she refused to even turn the lights on in her room. While throwing the shopping bag across the room, she dropped her backpack to the ground and began to pace furiously for a moment before collapsing onto her bed, gripping her hair as a lifeline. How could he? How could he so easily be all over another woman only after merely four months of his wife passing?

_Did she mean nothing to him? How could he be so heartless? _

She could feel herself gritting her teeth, almost to the point she felt as if they would snap in half as hot tears streaked down her cheeks. She stood up, walking around in circles, utterly at a loss of what to do next before she finally slumped against the wall in defeat. She covered her face, she wouldn't accept the fact that at home, her mother didn't seem to exist. Her father was in denial, and it seemed as if he was ready for her to stop being sad and simply move on.

"He's lost his mind." She mused, her thoughts still racing as she shook her head and walked over solemnly to her discarded backpack. She scooped it up and unzipped it, searching around for her cellphone, needing comforting words from Rebecca. After a few moments of shuffling with no success in finding it, her face twisted impatiently as she tipped it over and shook it. Her wallet, keys, and a hairbrush fell out, soon after her phone followed. She scooped it up and went to dial the number, but stopped short when something flittered and fell to the ground in the corner of her eye. Following it with her gaze she noticed a piece of paper that she didn't remember putting in her bag. Arching an eyebrow, she set down her phone before picking it up and flipping it over to read the contents.

_Betlegeuse _

_The "Bio-Exorcist"_

**Troubled by the living?**

**Feeling** **_invisible?_**

**Is death the problem and not the solution?**

**CALL!**

_**BETLEGUESE **_

_**BETLEGUESE **_

_**BETL-**_

She stopped. The bottom right corner had been ripped off. She blinked, looking it over in contemplation and confusion. Where had it come from, how did it end up in her bag, and why had it been so specific to her? Ready to toss it aside and continue on with her night, she got up to discard it in her trash bin before a thought struck her and she halted. Her gaze darted back over to the flyer as she brought it up to read it once more.

_Wait..._

Betelgeuse.

She knew that name.

The name on the tombstone she had tripped over.

She could feel the color drain from her face, if there had been any color left from her already pale skin. She read the name over and over again, knowing it was difficult to mistake the name as anything else. Swallowing the dry lump in her throat she couldn't help but wonder.

_How dead could this guy really be?_


End file.
